Improvement in preparing finely-divided iron, and the separation of copper, silver



eUsrA'v BijseHor, Je., or Swansea suur AND JOHN r..

GREAT BRITAIN, ASSIGNOB. T@ IHM- KIDWELL, 0F GEORGETCWN, AI). .(l.

IMPROVEMENT lN PREPARING FINlLY-DlVIQED` IRON. AND THE SEPARATION 0F 4(OPFEH. SILVER,

AND OTHER METALS TROMTHilR SOLUTIONS.

Specification forming parlof Letters Patent No. WLLWBE, dated February 25, ll.

To all 'whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GUSTAV BXSCHOF, Jr., of Swansea, county of Glamorgan and hingdom of Great Britain, have invented a new and Improved Process for Preparing Metallic Iron, and in the Use of the Same fof Treati'ng Solutions containing Coppe 1 or Silver, and for other purposes; and I hereby declare that the following is a clear, full, and exact description thereof', reference being had. to the accompanyin drawings making part of this specification, in which Figure 1 is a longitlu'linal vertical section of` the furnacewand receiver. Figs. 2, 3, 4, and 5 represent modifications of the plan used for closing the connect-ion of the receiver with the furnace, se as to exclude the air thelefrom;

and Figs. 6 and 7 represent the inixingvessel which may be used in` the process.

.lhe nature of my invention consists, rst, in an improved mode of preparing the metallic iron used in the process; second, in the process-ot' separating copper and silver from their solutions; and third, the' use of the mel tullio iron, thusl prepared, for other purposes. In preparing the metallic iron, I use anyv of the oxides of iron, natural or artificial, first reducing it to a tine powder, by stamping, grinding, or otherwise, and' then add thereto pulverized coal, coke. charcoal, or other car.4

bonaceous material, lin the proportion'of twenty per cent. of the latter to one liunjdred per cent. ofthe former, mixing s pond with the varying qualities ofthe oxides, as occurs in practice. rlhis mixture I' then submit to a heat suicient to reduce the oxide to a metallic state, but not high enough to y luse it, a bright red heat being about that reyquired,'a1ul the reduction being accomplished also to exclude 'the air from it during its're-4 moval from' the furnace `tothe receiving-ves- `ford the means of raking the two lintimately tol getlier, the proportions bemg valued to corresel. To accomplish these objects I provide a furnace, as represented in Fig. I, in Which-- A represents the tire-chamber; Il, the even for 'roasting the `material; and Il, the rhimney. oven, it may be provided with a door, C, at one side, or a movable section, l), at'the top, as shown in the drawing. At the rea-r end'ot' the furnace a small door, a, islocated, to ai'- or stirring the material (hiring the process, this openinglbein located back of the chimney, so that any air which may enter there shall pass directly up the chimney, and thus be preventedl from ing on into the body of the oven, and coming into contact withl the heated materia-l.

For the purpose ot' removing the heated material, without exposing it to contact with the air, I provide an opening'in the bottom ot' the furnace or oven, near'ts rea-r end, having` a removable cover, d, as shownin Fig. l, there bein g also a chamber or recess formed underneatlgt'or receiving the vessel F, so that the latter may he placed directly under this opening. A tube, h, is secured inthe opening, and extends downward, so as to coincide with the mouth or' .the receiver F, the lattervbein g made with a neck, o, corresponding in size externallyv with the lower end of the tube k, asA shown in Fig. l.- Y

To malte the connection between the tube lL andthe neck yo air-tight, I provide a collar, e, as represented in Fig. f This collar is composed of two semicircular hinge, i, at one side, and having on the opposite side a lug, attached to one piece, anda lng,` 7.', attached to the other. lever, p, is pivoted, this lever having a slot formed in it, so that, when the collar is closed, the lever will shut overthe projecting point of the lng 7s, and, by pressing against its inclined edge,thus'draw and hold the two parts of the collar together. When the receiver F` is placed in position under the tube h, this collar is opened and placed around the adjoining endet' the tube 'h and the neck o of thefreceiver F, and closed thereon, asshown in sectionin Fig. 1, and being serves to unite them, and thus form a passage throu ghwhich the-heated material canbe raked For introducing the material to the Y pieces, uuitcd by a To the lug ai a drawn tightly toy gcther on them, by means of theflever p, it

. ceiver, the receiver, in this ease' being so tubeh'-, it may bev-"G1 l ing alittle very being brought in contact with the air.

Instead of the collar c other devices maybe used for this purpose, as represented in Figs. 3 and 5,

I In Fig. 3, the tube h is represented with a flange, n, ar -anged to enter a circula-r groove, I, formed in` thetop ot the neck o of the reranged that, after it 'has been run um evftt-ed, by screws.. o as to canse th other suitable me, 'n to enter the gro the latter ben with incly-pulvei l charcoal or othersuitable material, to render the joint air-tight, or' as nearly so as possible; or this may be ac-. complished in a still simpler manner, by means the device represented in Fig.;5. f In this .c'ase, the lower portieri. of the tube hJ is provided with a ilange, turned up so as. to form a l,f roove or channel, as shown in Fig. 5; land a collar, I, is then placed' around the `tube h, this collar being provided with' a short vertical ange, t, arranged-to tit into the groove on the tube ph, while a longer vertical flange, u, projects down and tits into the grooyc l in the top of the neck o of the receiver F, the grooves being filled with pulverized charcoal, or other material, as in theformer case. IVhen thus arranged, it is only necessary to slide the lcollar I up onthe tube h to disengage it from the receiver, and permit the latter to be removed. IVlien the material is thus removed from the oven to the receiver, the latter is covered closely, and kept closed until the material has become cool, when 'it is ready forfuse. It' properly treated, it will now be in' theI condition of a loosely-coherent or spongy mass,

and can be reduced, even by hand, to a fine powder, though I prefer using rollers for this purpose. It 'will' then be in a suitable state for use in' precipitating copper from its solu'.. tion.' y

In this, the'seconfd part of my invention, I proceed as follows: v'Io the solution I add4 ironpowder in large` excess. The copper is then precipitated almost instantaneously, the chemical action being so strong that the fluid is considerably heated. lAfter the whole of the copper in solution is. precipitated, the fluid rem aining, consisting chiey orv principally of a' solution of an, iron salt, is drawn or-'run off, and another solution of copper added. This is repeated until'only a small portion of the iron-powder remains undissolved.. stage of the process is rcached,whieh is indicated by the slowness ofthe precipitation, I

'prefer to remove the last tra-ces of the iron by adding the dilute wash-waters from the process of lixiviating the copper from ores; or if, on'the otherhand, there' bc,at this stage of the precipitation, a small excess ot' copper vin solutio 1,-tl1e same may be precipitated by addfine iron-powder, obtained by riddling through a fine sieve some of the powder which has been crushed by rollersl or otherwise. During the process, it will bc well some opening for the When this made from such orcs.

to stir up the shovel orfpole, by a wooden rake, power. "In most cases,

vanta-geous any raking, much in the manner in which ceror the stirring may be effected however,I find it adtain ores 'are amalgamated by the so-called European method, namely, by suspending large round wooden casks, Figs. 6 and 7, horip' zontally in a frame-work, and having a bear ing at each end, as shown. Such easks have, in their interior, partitions r, Fig. 7, extending from end to end, and about one foot wide. Liquor and iron-powders having been added, as before described, an intimate mixture of both is effected by turning the caskon its axles, either by hand or machinery. -The best speed for sueheasks is to rotate -onceJ in from two to five minutes. If the casks were turned without partitions, v, the iron-powders would slide along their sides, that portion-'of the powder nearest the sides not coming in -contact with the solution of -copper. But these partitions carry the powder up in their rotation, and, when reaching throw it down again .through the liquor, thus turning it continually. The precipitation of copper having been finished, the -liquor is `run ott' through an opening, (not. shown" inl the drawing,) and then another copperas solution added, and so on, as before described. The precipitated copper is nallyraked out through purpose'. 'In this process, either sulphide or chloride of copper may be used to formthe copperas solution.

Some substances, such as arsenic, are only precipitated from their Asolutions after metallic iron has been in contact therewith several hours. As the precipitation of copper from its solutions takes place, by the process de scribed, almost instantaneously, and, under all circumstances, in 4a very short time, such substances as arsenic r main in solution, and are carried owi'th these-called spent liquors, from which theVV copper has been precipitated, and the copper obtained is much purer than that resulting from treating copper solution by iron in other forms.

Many iron ores contain copper, and this is often particularly-the casein the pyritous ores used in the manufacture o f sulphur or; sulphuric aeid. .In Missouri, Arkansas, and per haps some other States, some of the richest specular oxides are so contaminated with copper as to seriously injure the malleable iron The residuumfrom pyritous materials, above mentioned, and the copperas specular oxides,

will be 'especially advantageous for obtaining the iron-powder by this process. When they contain three, four, orve per cent. of copper,

this metal, which theycontain in themselves, y

will often repay the cost of the ore and its ref duction, and even return a profit, under favorable circumstances. `The,metal1ic copper obtained lby this improved process is, of course, :timely-divided powder. When/the object is iron-powder with a wooden y driven by steam or other to e'ect the precipitation without I a certain elevation,

i only to obtain this metal in the workable conditio11,'con1mo11ly used in the arts, it is only necessary to melt and refine this powder, and to run it into bars or ingots. But there are many cases in which ,the fn' ely-divided copper vcan be used to .better advantage than when in any other form, one of these Aapplications being to precipitate silver from its solutions,

advantage and at a reasonable price. TheA finely-divided iron produced accordingto my process removes this difficulty by producing au article inexhaustible in its supply, entirely independent oi' other'contemporaneous manufactures, vand at a cost much less than those now used. My finely-divided metallic iron may also be appliedV to the manufacture of steel by process well known.

Having thus set forth fully the nature of my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The preparation of nely-divided m etallic iron, in the manner and by the process substantially as described.'

,2. The'coinbinatiou and arrangement of the Y receiver F with the furnace, for deoxidizing the ores or oxides of iron, andL securing' the product from the oxidizing effects of the atmosphere, as set forth.

`3.v The preclplt-ation of metallic copper from its solutions, by the use ofnely-divided iron,

prepared as described, and in the manner set forth. v

4. The use'of the finely-divided metallic iron, produced in the manner set forth, for the manufacture of steel, and. for other manufacturing purposes.

5. Thense of finely-divided metallic copper, produced in the manner set forth, for separating silver from itssolutions.

. GUSTAV BISCHOF, JR.

- Witnesses:

W. C. DODGE, L. J oNEs. 

